


Masked Id

by PRabbit



Category: OFF (Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-23
Updated: 2013-05-23
Packaged: 2017-12-12 18:31:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/814662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PRabbit/pseuds/PRabbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My take on Zacharie. Head cannon where he is a traveler hiding the secret of his true self. That is until the Batter shows up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Masked Id

Masked Id  
Monster Zacharie x Bad Batter  
Inspired by Hunter

What a beautiful world. Color flowed from the ground up to a pale sky that melted into a sea. He could sit on that hill and watch the waves of plastic flow forever. His arrival left a weak impression: a shattered collection of life like all the others, barely clinging to solid matter. How one could live on these shattered masses still confuses him to this day. Solid ground is still better than no ground and he lurked as long as he could manage. Progress flared between points on the map expanding them. What they could do, what they could make; the land grew more and more breathtaking. 

Then, he thought, he could help it along. A swing of a sword broke chains unleashing even more development. Guardians shepherded throngs of beings into a new age. Towns, parks, houses, rivers; and everyday it grew better. Her eyes reminded him of some forgotten thing that took his breath away in another life. A wanderer like him, they found something in the darkness. At last, a place to stay. But never to call his own.

It all hung in the air; a ruse of smoke to entertain a chosen few. Oh, to be in that caste, becoming an entity instead of feeding off the scraps of one. Though settled and happy they coiled as parasites, falling victim to needing more and more. Just one taste, one little taste.

Many believe in fate. Zacharie considered it a fine proposition but always saw the path changeable. Beings on a set journey always needed help, and whether they got there or not their fate still lined his pockets with credits. Countless worlds had shown him the fruitlessness of hanging on to a paltry pieces of scrap they call destiny. He always had to grab for what he wanted, what he needed. Or have it snatched right back.

The click of the tram brought him to a rumor. He dare not challenge the rulers only to retain a nation soaked in blood and betrayal. The lands needed a king, not a selfish collection of rotting gods serving only themselves. If one stood up, the people could be happy. He could be happy. The doors shut behind him. No one provided a single answer save for Pablo. The cat curled his tail and spoke of a figment of his imagination forming into reality, a reality bent on purifying all tribulations the zones suffered. 

Troubles seeped out everywhere. No doubt a recent mistake ignored and left to terrorize the good Elsen. From the top of the pyramid, issues came flowing down and question were shouted up. No answer, no explanation but plenty of fear. Zacharie waved bye to the feline and got on the first tram. Now the smoke mines stared back at him along with the promise of a new costumer.

“Heh heh heh.”

He had been there for countless ‘heroes’, ‘warriors’ and ‘great ones’, following their journeys to the end. What ever the end mattered little to him but the need for supplies, weapons, armor: that kept him skipping ahead with glee to catch them at the perfect spot.

“I am the Batter. I’m on a sacred mission to purify this world.”

Quite the specimen. Tall, strong and determined. The man’s stone face said it all: he would not stop. This was going to be fun

“You don’t need all these complicated and unnerving dialogs.” Zacharie pulled out his sack. “But more action, less talk.”

Hooked for life. Or until the poor sod failed. Or succeeded. He imagined the throne empty, the land free and ready fro an experienced man to step up. A smile formed under his mask as the Batter walked up out of the mines.

Profits climbed. He was able to buy her anything now with minimal effort. The Batter’s systematic pattern made him easy to catch. Yet she suffered the most. Both knew the risks of staying too long but they wanted to, first out of want, then need. She needed it all the time now. No longer the buildings or the park, not even a nice meal. Just one thing. He provided, knowing she’d leave in search of something to stave off the lust. So beautiful. He kissed her before locking the door.

More profits. Now he guided the man, closer and closer to the queen. Guardians fell, their minds reset and lost in a plane of nothing. He may let them return, if they behave. Between his work he wandered the worlds, coveting every corner, every scrap of wonder carved and set in motion in the nothingness. Home. That word sounded nice on his tongue now.

Then it happened. They started get infected. The Elsen, so caught up in whims of their masters churned and boated into monsters. Zacharie shook his head, wondering how such a small problem could be allowed to threaten so much. A pity they would have to die. He watched the Batter slaughter them one by one. More would come. They’d have to with a place such as this. 

Color begin to sap as the guardians fell. He knew he was strong enough to support all the zones and she’s help him. Her eyes would focus and look up at him. A smile and a hug. No more leaching. We can have it all. His loyal customer crushed every infection leaving in his wake sterilized purity. 

“Friend, I have the best wares available. Let me see the color of your credits.”

“Thanks.”

At last he left the hero on the steps to his destiny. They’d fight hard leaving the final wall crumbled. Such a battle would leave that sickening purifier weak. Zacharie sharpened his sword, waiting for the chains of the world to break.

Pablo limped out of the room. His face hung, eyes looking far away into something Zach never wanted to see. Still grieving over the loss of his brother. Poor little thing. The cat trodded slowly over, sitting down next to his bowl.

“He’s.” His normal intelligent, confident tone sounded worn away. “He’s a monster.”

Zacharie sat next to him offering pets.

“Heh heh heh. Yes, I did not think the bird would kill your brother. I am sorry.”

The cat’s whiskers drooped to match his ears.

“He will destroy everything. Everything will be gone.”

“Who? The Batter? He just wants the queen gone. They’re fighting right now. Something about a child and a bad relationship.”

“He will turn it off.”

Zacharie’s spine went ridged. Hair stood on end at the realization. Everything gone. He couldn’t rebuild this place, he needed the infrastructure. Sword in hand he rose, shouting from under his mask.

“Stop him!”

“Hhhhhh.”

The cat’s form went limp to the floor. Smoke seeped through his eyes and nose with more from the mouth. Zacharie stood horrified as his long time friend grew transparent.

“I already did.”

The last of the smoke trailed up to the ceiling to dissipate. Wisdom and morality faded, the Judge had fallen.

Zacharie could no longer feel the presence of something solid, something beautiful. How could the battle have been over that fast, he had felt nothing. He tore out of the door and traveled to where he had walked the streets, offered his services and held hands with another. Metal and plastic poured away into nothing, foundations disappearing. The zones cracked and crumbled reminding him of every other world he had been to, every miserable, rotting chunk of matter. He gripped his sword hard and rushed in to the platform now unguarded. There the switch jutted out of the wall set to off.   
Pablo had spoken of an evil inside the Batter and Zacharie had witnesses it as well. A seething rage, vengeance that whisked away any morality. The gaze of a man who’d kill his wife and child. He saw no ill of such damning characteristics. Zacharie had met all types. It all came down to how you used them.

The shape of a man no longer, the Batter stood before the switch, watching the destruction with the same stoic gaze. His mouth stretched out into a long maw full of fangs. Hands had grown; the fingers long and sharp. The body now matched the heart. Piercing eyes turned to meet the ship keeper.

“You, why did you…” 

Zacharie’s voice trailed off, unable to put to words the vision of his home, his dreams melting into useless dust. He held the sword up with his own quest.

“HHHhhshsss.” Drool fell from the thing’s mouth as it turned. Claws flexed in anticipation. “I must purify you.”

A slash cut across the air faster than the eye sending Zacharie sliding to the edge of the room. He drove his sword into the ground to save himself from a perils fall. The switch would not destroy itself or the platform. The Batter was waiting till all was gone before ending the last trace of life. Steal darted down the side striking impure flesh. A roar erupted mutating into a cruel laugh.

“I will end your pathetic quest.”

Zacharie had fought countless times in the past. His strength remained hidden, unused and easy to underestimate. No one had been able to touch him, not with his power. All the weapons he sold, all the armor, it meant nothing, not when facing his fullness. Zacharie didn’t need it. Never again. He closed his eyes and dodged another swipe, knowing this will be the last blood on his hand ever. 

His sword struck again leaving black blood splattered on the ground. The Batter fell to his knees, stunned by the last blow. Zacharie would not make this quick, he wanted to see suffering by his own blade. A thrust impaled the shoulder. No more left in the monster. It breathed heavy, mouth open. Zach raised sword to sever an arm only to be crushed by one. The demon took control after his bluff and pinned Zacharie to the ground, maw ready to swallow him whole. 

“Purify. Rrrrrrhhhhh. Purrrrification.”

What does one do when they have met the end of their destiny? All their trails and suffering, their victories are now behind leaving them with nothing. They eat themselves alive.

Zacharie jabbed up, trying to free himself from the crushing weight. Whatever damage he had done showed no effect on the beast. He lay helpless in a pointless struggle. The Batter picked him up in his claws and glared at him, growling out broken words about purity. Rubs cracked under the grip. Zach could do nothing as he was tossed off the edge to float wounded with out his pack.

First he fell as if gravity still held sway over reality. The broken chunks of the world smashed into his body. Acceleration took its agonizing time to wane. Zacharie’s broken form floated in nothingness, cold and bleeding. Even half conscious he could feel it crawl down his limbs. His back burned from unnatural pressure. Even now he strained to keep his mouth shut and keep in control. Desire got the best of him as he drifted along in agony. Still alive. Always alive, because of this. He’d end him, watch him cry out under his blade and beg for mercy.

The monster hovered over him, maw threatening death until Zacharie’s eyes closed. They shot open again, wide. She had stopped him, each and every time she held his hand and smiled and he stopped. Zone 0 was not attached to the switch; the Judge had made it free, a haven. With out his back he could not travel, every point was destroyed. Abnormal limbs granted him wings. He flew far and fast till feet touched yellow metal and dirt. Still solid. The place was nothing more than a small scrap, but now he loved it.

The door opened and he took the stairs. Yellow stained with blood, piles of white soaked with it all leading to a broken corpse. Zacharie fell on his knees in the gore, tears running from his eyes. Monster, demon, murderer. He remember every instance and sobbed as if it was his own doing. His mask stretched from ear to ear growing longer along his face. When he opened his mouth up to scream the mask parted into a hideous mouth that covered his entire face. A long tongue fell out, saliva mixing with the flow of tears. His features grew longer until he no longer looked human and flesh and mask appeared as one grotesque face. Yet still he cried, no longer able to say her name. An animalistic howl shook the very walls of the last surviving zone. 

“I can’t” His voice shuddered out syllables, hands gripping his sword. “There is” He brought the blade up. “There is nothing now.” Tears fell onto the ground. “Let me die!”

Still shaking he plunged the sword straight through his own chest. Blood gushed from the wound all over his legs. Guttural screeches erupted from his maw along with more blood. His body writhed, arching down with more screams. Wings tore from his back, stretching out their blood coated feathers in the fresh air. Larger they grew as their white feathers fell tattered all around Zacharie. His hands grew into clawed monstrosities. Form still sezuiring he pulled the sword out. New, distant eyes rose along with his head to stare and the bloody weapon. His gaze looked out not in anger but sadness. Tears still trailed down his warped face.

With a rattle the sword was tossed aside. Zacharie rose as if no injury had befallen him. Slowly he took to his feet, breathing heavy.

“Heh heh heh.”

His chuckle echoed in the empty room. 

“Heh heh heh.”

He repeated it over and over, his forlorn face reflecting no signs of humor.

“Heh heh heh.”

Claws grinded down the wall leaving jagged marks in the solid material. He took his first step and looked down at himself. Where the sword was plunged how hung a hole through his body in the shape a heart. Blood dripped from it onto his shirt. Even when existence held nothing for him his body never let him die. His laugh trailed in the soon to be forgotten home of his friends. Wings supported by nothing sped him back into the crumbled wastelands.

The large zones took a long time to fade away. Still stood the Batter, staring beyond the switch, waiting. He never heard the wings nor the landing, just the insane, repeating chuckle.

“Heh heh heh.”

The Batter turned, rage filled eyes meeting the desolate stare of Zacharie.

“Adversaries not purified.”

For a moment, the destroyed shop keeper’s face held a hint of his formal self. Zacharie trapped behind the mask of a monster whose only drive was to kill, consume and destroy. If he could he’d grin that his hidden self with all its dire consequences was pointed at the bastard that started it all. And he loved it. He had always loved it.

The Batter screeched from claws slashing against his face. The blow left a burning wound that he scratched at. Teeth pierced his arm, gripping fast as more claws dug into his twisted flesh. Zacharie attacked head on with strength unknown to the batter. His arm cracked from the jaw and he hissed, smashing his own clawed hand into his foe.

“Heh heh heh.”

The Batter’s long maw crunched down on Zacharie’s shoulder reaching down to his chest. Teeth drew blood leaving enough of an opening for the Batter to free himself. He pushed away hard then lunged back with another bite only to hit nothing. Zacharie flew backwards, hovered just out of reach, eerie chuckle repeating. His eyes remained forlorn with tears dripping down.

In a rage the batter leapt at the flying Zacharie. A kick met his face and soon he was knocked to the ground, talons ripping at his body. Though the Batter swiped and struggled, Zacharie dodged every one, reprising with his own slashes. The pair rolled off the edge, Zacharie flying up with the Batter clinging to the end of the floor.

Still crying, the shop keeper swooped down with intent to cause the Batter to fall. Snapping jaws stopped him and allowed the Batter to swing back up and prepare to attack again. Claws met claws as they rammed each other, grappling for an advantage. The Batter’s warped guise looked into Zacharie’s and he became afraid. Talons dug into his skin, the contact searing off flesh. Zacharie opened his mouth wrapped his tongue around one of the Batter’s arm. His time the bone cracked clean through.

Reeling back, The Batter gripped the stump where his arm used to be and snarled at the approaching Zacharie. He gave a pathetic dive forward with snapping fangs but found his neck caught in the large claws of his friendly shopkeeper. Always there in places you are going to visit before you arrive. The grip tightened, twisting flesh and bone until a gruesome snap broke the silence of heavy breathing. 

Zacharie stood over the Batter’s limp corpse, blood pooling under him. A monstrous hand wrapped around the switch. With a click the room rematerialized. Zacharie turned and walked out of the chamber leaving a trail of tears and blood. Once at the end he flew aimlessly in the nothingness. Meat, Metal, Plastic and smoke still drifted as useless rubble. He stopped and looked around, shaking from breathing so hard.

A long, loud shout rippled through the nothingness for anyone to hear. It traveled to other worlds where it was heralded as an omen. It scared creatures back into their homes. It made everyone remember why they were so afraid of the dark.

\---

In a chunk of Zone 3 an Elsen huddled in the corner of his locked room. Afraid to go out he looked over his meager supplies and shuddered every time he heard a noise. After a long period of silence there was a creak of the door. It cracked open and slammed after something had entered. The Elsen hid his eyes not wanting to see what horrible thing was going to eat him.

No harm came to him. Gathering up courage he looked around the room to see a creature curled in the corner, shaking. It has beautiful, tattered wings and sad, crying eyes. The Elsen rose and sat next to it.

“Hhhhhh….”

He laid a hand on its back, stopping the trembling.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you.”


End file.
